Analysis: AI Datacenter Networking Vendor Spotlight – Lumentum, Key Laser Supplier

Increased demand for InP lasers has shown a constraint in Lumentum’s production capabilities.

Lumentum is a critical enabler of AI-era datacenter networking as the leading supplier of indium phosphide (InP) lasers, especially electro-absorption modulation lasers (EMLs), used in high-speed optical interconnect inside and between datacenters. Demand for these lasers outstripped Lumentum’s production capacity by roughly 30% in 2025, forcing allocation to key accounts and underscoring that laser supply has become a gating factor for scaling bandwidth. As the industry moves from copper to optics at shorter reaches and toward silicon photonics, external laser sources (ELS), and co-packaged/near-packaged optics (CPO/NPO), the need for reliable, high-volume laser production remains central.